The Best Memoirs You’ve Never Heard of

When Paolina Milana gets the chance to go to an out-of-state school, escaping the rampant mental illness in her family, she takes it. But her family sends her incessant letters while she’s away, reminding her of what she left behind. When her father dies suddenly, she heads back home to care for her schizophrenic mother. Committed is a memoir about resilience in the name of familial mental illness.

Alysia Sawchyn was disanosed with bipolar I when she was 18, but found out seven years later that she had been misdiagnosed. A Fish Growing Lungs is the story of her journey to rediscovering herself through recovery from an illness she never really had to begin with. It’s funny and smart and full of medical and mental health references from history, literature, art, and more.

JoAnne Silver Jones was assaulted by a stranger wielding a hammer, and the attack left her with a severe traumatic brain injury, fractured hands, and PTSD. Headstrong is the story of her healing and what it’s like to live in fear of a world full of physical and vocal violence.

The Heart and Other Monsters is a moving memoir about the opioid crisis. Rose Andersen’s younger sister became addicted to heroin and died of an overdose at 24. It set Rose in a tailspin, trying to relive their childhood to figure out how her sister ended up in such a situation. She goes on a heartwrenching emotional journey trying to piece together her sister’s final days while also struggling with the heavy grief of losing kin.

Edgar Gomez loves the irony of being a gay, Latinx man alongside a machismo society. His uncle has a cockfighting ring in Nicaragua, after all. At 13, Gomez was sent there to become a man. High-Risk Homosexual — the title comes from a diagnosis he received from an actual doctor — is a delightfully witty memoir about finding and loving queer spaces.

Khalida Brohi grew up in a world where arranged marriage was the norm; her parents were married as children, and Khalida was promised as a bride before she was even born. But her father focused instead on her education. Khalida was on a unique path toward empowerment when the unexpected happened: her cousin was murdered in an “honor killing” because she fell in love with a man who was not her betrothed. It inspired a whirlwind of activism and the creation of a foundation to empower women in rural communities to strive for education and careers.

Sara Faith Alterman grew up in a house where sex was never discussed and bad words were never uttered. When, as a teen, she discovered a slew of raunchy books — written by her father — crammed in the back of a bookshelf, she was scandalized, but kept it a secret. Decades later, her father began acting strange, lost his job, and decided to revive his writing career. As her father sinks into the tidal waves of Alzheimer’s, Alterman struggles to navigate the waters of new motherhood in her own life. Let’s Never Talk About This Again is a funny and weird and sad memoir about a dad with Alzheimer’s.

Theresa’s only real safe place after her father’s death when she was young was her grandmother’s home in Mason, Michigan. But when her Gram dies, Theresa is again stuck with her destructive Ojibwe mother and white stepfather, trekking across the country to find a better life. The Mason House is a memoir about the importance of home and the struggles that bring us there.

Gabriela Wiener is thrilled when she finds herself pregnant at 30, because it gives her a giant new writing assignment. The Peruvian essayist dives into all the information and misinformation surrounding pregnancy, and all the things no one talks about, like how morning sickness feels like a hangover. Packed with humor and truth, Nine Moons turns the classic idea of pregnancy upside down.

Luce Brett’s life changed after the birth of her first son. There was the glow of new motherhood, of course, as well as the darkness of postpartum depression and another thing: incontinence. Brett takes a hammer to the taboo, telling her story with snark and candor in PMSL.

Melody Moezzi shared her experiences living a “bipolar life” — Iranian and American, and diagnosed with bipolar disorder — in Haldol and Hyacinths. Now, in The Rumi Prescription, she’s sharing her journey to recovery aided by the poems of Rumi. She translated his works, focusing on isolation, distraction, depression, fear, and the most important: love.

Zoe Zolbrod didn’t tell anyone about her childhood molestation for nearly a decade. As she grew up and began to experience life, she realized the impact it had on her sexuality, relationships with men, and motherhood. The Telling tells her truth and also goes a step further, detailing research that encourages sexual abuse victims to speak up and empower themselves.

When her partner’s father was found dead at home, Erica Buist began to spiral, spending an entire year in the clutches of grief and fear. Knowing she had to escape, she researched how the rest of the world handles death, and thus began her journey to seven countries to experience the death festivals around the world, where death truly is a celebration. The Party’s Dead is the kind of travel memoir that will likely change the way you view the world, too.

Kelly always had a hunch that her family life wasn’t normal. Most kids don’t live with their grandparents or sleep on a boat in the marina, surrounded by dysfunction. But would she succumb to the chaos that led to her mother’s death? To find the answers, she digs up old crime reports and tries to get to know her mother. We Are All Shipwrecks is a moving memoir about family and history and how we all fit together.

Ronit was only 6 when her mother left to follow a guru in India. The guru preached that children were the problem in society and encouraged his followers to get sterilized. Luckily, her father came to rescue Ronit and her younger sister, settling in New Jersey. But being the elder daughter came with a price: She filled the role of partner and confidant to her father, and acted as a mother to her sister. When She Comes Back is a poignant memoir about family and resilience.